I’ve long resisted the notion of writing a blog. I recognize that there are many good, useful, informative, and entertaining blogs out there. I read a lot of them regularly. Nonetheless, fair or not, there’s a certain stigma attached to being a “blogger,” especially for a professional blog attached to any sort of media, news, or editorial outlet. Yet, here I am, helping High-Def Digest launch its first blog.
Welcome to 1999, right? Our timing couldn’t be better. We’re starting this right on the heels of a study by The Pew Research Center that shows that blogging has declined in popularity amongst the young adult demographic that advertisers covet. It seems that only old fogeys (30+) like myself continue to blog anymore. Awesome. Would someone be so kind as to get me a walker and a pair of Depends? I’m afraid that I’ve fallen and can’t get up.
Why was I reluctant in the first place? Events of recent years have fostered the impression that blogs are little more than the refuge of ethically-dubious writers who don’t bother to verify their information, can’t avoid inappropriate conflicts of interest, or don’t otherwise feel compelled to abide by the accepted standards and practices of the journalism profession. While that’s absolutely not always the case, it happens often enough to give the whole format a bad reputation in many eyes. I don’t personally feel that way about it. Regardless, I’ve been leery of becoming a blogger myself until now.
So why start a blog now? I think it’s needed here. As you may remember, High-Def Digest was founded during the big format war between Blu-ray and its competitor HD DVD. The intent was always to cover all high-def formats equally. And that’s exactly what the site did. Eventually, HD DVD conceded the fight. Since that time, our site has (for obvious reasons) focused its gaze primarily on Blu-ray, both in disc reviews and news coverage.
But this web site is not and has never been “Blu-ray Digest.” This is High-Def Digest. Blu-ray is a terrific format, and we’ll continue to give it all the attention it deserves, which is a lot. At the same time, there’s so much more to high definition than just Blu-ray. It’s time to expand our scope.
A little over a year ago, I started the weekly HD Advisor column to answer reader questions about home theater hardware issues. That’s been pretty successful for us. Still, the site lacked much discussion of other high-def video sources or home theater topics. For a long time, we’ve wanted to build new sections on the site dedicated to subjects like broadcast television, video downloads, and gaming. Unfortunately, we’ve just never had the budget or resources to accomplish that goal to the extent that it deserves.
As a compromise, we’ve decided to create a blog that could function as a catch-all for those other topics that interest us as home theater junkies, and will hopefully interest our readers as well. So welcome to The Bonus View! The title should explain what it is that we plan to do here. High-Def Digest will continue to publish Blu-ray news and reviews the same as it always has. Consider this blog an extra look at the other things on our minds.
Because this is a blog, you should also expect many long-winded and poorly-reasoned political diatribes about our government, health care reform, and Sarah Palin’s inevitable ascension to Empress of the Known Universe.
OK, I’m just kidding about that part. We’ll try to keep politics out of this and stay on topic as much as possible. The tone here may be a little more informal than the news and reviews sections of the site, however. Bear with us if we digress into personal subjects. We’re people too, you know?
For the first week or so, we may have some kinks to work out. We’ve been prepping some of this content in advance. Some of it (especially HDTV coverage) may seem a little untimely at first. We’ll catch up soon enough. Give us a chance to get our bearings.
Now, with all those introductions out of the way, let’s get this show on the road!
Mike Attebery
Looking forward to getting this rolling!
Dick Ward
Wait, so no long winded diatribes? C’mon!
Seriously though, I’m excited about seeing what this blog evolves into 🙂
Ross Rehart
I’d really like to hear you (and all the readers) blog and comment about 3D. It’s an ineevitable conclusion that 3D is here to stay, but I’d like to know what the latest and greatest news, rumors, and info is/are. I’d certainly love to hear you delve into any “3D Standards” that are out there and when we expect “glasses-less” 3D to hit our theaters and home theaters.
I’d also like to hear more about the audio side of High Def. Pretty pictures are cool and all, but without sound, its also pretty pointless.
So – bring on the blogging and lets get some good stuff going here!!
Josh Zyber
AuthorHave no fear. 3-D will be a regular topic here. Our first post on 3-D just went up this morning.
Sean
3D has to be glasses-less and flicker free before I even consider spending money on it. In the meantime I will take advantage of the low prices on ‘traditional’ technology like good ol’ 2D plasmas from Samsung or Panasonic.
EM
Uh-oh…I’ve already posted my pick for the Kick-Off Contest, and that WAS a long-winded diatribe. I hope I didn’t break the rules! 😉
Arkadin
great to see some new features on HDD.
congats on starting this blog.
btw: is there anyway to make the text darker when posting comments?
I can barely see what I’m typing right now.
It gets darker when posted from what I can tell.
Again, great job!!
Russell L
Congrats–looks like it will be a worthwhile addition to the site. I’m especially happy that the layout/formatting is iPhone-friendly, which is what I’m using right now.
Lou
Nice to see a blog here finally! Been looking over it and all the different topics are awesome. Are we going to see any of the other High Def folks posting on here? It’d be great to get a variety of voices.
Josh Zyber
AuthorRight now, we’re rolling things out a little slowly as we get the hang of everything. As we finalize our approach, we will expand to additional topics and bring in additional contributors.
chris
Yeah good call Lou. it’s already starting to get a little stale around here with only the same 3 or 4 people posting over and over. Hopefully we get to hear from people like Nate, Aaron and Enois soon.
and hopefully Nate’s allowed to swear!
Josh Zyber
AuthorWe just started this thing. Give us a chance to find our footing. The intent of this was never to be a 500-post-a-day blog like Gizmodo. This is essentially a personal project that a handful of us initiated because we thought it would benefit the site, and give readers a look into our thoughts on other related topics. Bear with us. Thanks. 🙂